From the monthly archives:

August 2009

Surprising Rate Of Recurring Heart Attacks, Strokes Globally

August 31, 2009 News & Research

US doesn’t fare as well as Japan and Australia
Despite many medicines and other treatments for patients with vascular disease, a large international study shows these patients have a surprisingly high rate of recurring events such as strokes, heart attacks and hospitalizations as well as mortality. Also unexpected: patients in North America (including the U.S.) experienced …

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Simple Test May Identify Stroke Survivors At Risk Of Another Cardiovascular Event

August 31, 2009 News & Research

Study highlights:
* Measuring blood flow in the ankle may identify stroke survivors at risk of subsequent events.
* This test, the ankle brachial index, compares blood flow in the ankle to blood flow in the arm to detect poor circulation caused by fatty plaque buildup in the lower …

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Both Major Theories About Human Cellular Aging Supported By New Research

Thumbnail image for Both Major Theories About Human Cellular Aging Supported By New Research August 28, 2009 Life Extension

Aging yeast cells accumulate damage over time, but they do so by following a pattern laid down earlier in their life by diet as well as the genes that control metabolism and the dynamics of cell structures such as mitochondria, the power plants of cells. These research findings, presented at the American Society for Cell …

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Diabetes drug costs soaring, top $12B last year

August 28, 2009 News & Research

Americans with diabetes nearly doubled their spending on drugs for the disease in just six years, with the bill last year climbing to an eye-popping $12.5 billion. Newer, more costly drugs are driving the increase, said researchers, despite a lack of strong evidence for the new drugs’ greater benefits and safety. And there are more …

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Long-term Use Of Diabetes Drug Increases Heart Attack Risk By More Than 40 Percent

Thumbnail image for Long-term Use Of Diabetes Drug Increases Heart Attack Risk By More Than 40 Percent August 28, 2009 News & Research

An analysis of four studies involving more than 14,000 patients found that long-term use of the diabetes drug rosiglitazone (Avandia®) increased the risk of heart attack by 42 percent and doubled the risk of heart failure, according to a new report from researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and colleagues. There was no …

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‘Unknown’ Cholesterol In Processed Food Poses Big Heart Health Risk

August 28, 2009 News & Research

With all the focus on LDL (bad) cholesterol, a ‘virtually unknown’ form called oxycholesterol may pose the biggest heart health threat, say Chinese scientists. Scientists from the Chinese University of Hong Kong identified fried and processed food as the main sources of oxycholesterol in the diet, statements that may lead to louder calls to reformulate …

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Low Carb Diet May Increase Heart Risk: Mouse Study

August 28, 2009 News & Research

A new study has concluded that low carb-high protein diet leads to more atherosclerosis in mice, findings that could have implications for diet strategies if they also hold true for humans. The low carb approach to dieting had its heyday in the 1990s, with the marketing of popular commercial diets such as the Atkins Diet. …

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Nuisance Or Nutrient? Kudzu Shows Promise As A Dietary Supplement

August 26, 2009 News & Research

Kudzu, the nuisance vine that has overgrown almost 10 million acres in the southeastern United States, may sprout into a dietary supplement. Scientists in Alabama and Iowa are reporting the first evidence that root extracts from kudzu show promise as a dietary supplement for a high-risk condition — the metabolic syndrome — that affects almost …

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Pitt Study Finds Molecular Link Between Insulin Resistance And Inflammation

August 26, 2009 News & Research

An exploration of the molecular links between insulin resistance and inflammation may have revealed a novel target for diabetes treatment, say scientists at the John G. Rangos Sr. Research Center, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. Their findings were published earlier this month in the online version of Diabetes, one of the journals of the …

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Increased Mortality Associated With Frequent Night-time Urination — Nocturia

August 26, 2009 News & Research

Patients suffering from nocturia, the need to urinate at least twice during the night, may have a significantly increased risk for mortality. Researchers presented a study at the 104th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA) showing that there was a significantly increased mortality rate in elderly patients living in a Japanese assisted-living …

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An Inner ‘Fingerprint’ For Personalizing Medical Care

August 25, 2009 News & Research

Fingerprints move over. Scientists are reporting evidence that people have another defining trait that may distinguish each of the 6.7 billion humans on Earth from one another almost as surely as the arches, loops, and whorls on their fingertips. They report evidence from studies in humans for the existence of unique patterns in metabolism. Metabolism is …

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Brain Starvation As We Age Appears To Trigger Alzheimer’s: Improving Blood Flow To Brain Is Preventive Strategy

August 24, 2009 News & Research

A slow, chronic starvation of the brain as we age appears to be one of the major triggers of a biochemical process that causes some forms of Alzheimer’s disease. A new study from Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine has found when the brain doesn’t get enough sugar glucose — as might occur when cardiovascular disease …

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